Bahri Çokkardeş

Bahri Çokkardeş’ distinctive voice among contemporary Turkish poets, drew on his reluctance to immerse himself in the practicalities of everyday life and his philosophical interrogations of withdrawal from the world of practical concerns, material things and ordinary life patterns, most people assume to be contingent and true, without critical reflection. He was closely associated with Akatalpa, a poetry and criticism journal published in Bursa, Turkey where he lived until his death in fall 2009. He was the son of an immigrant family originally from Bosnia. Close inspection of his poems offers a unique look into alternative, existential possibilities inherent in the starry skies and the heavenly bodies. His poetry collections include Poems Forsaken in the Heart of Night (İz, 1998) and Traces of Silence (Yom, 2006). Though a reclusive, solitary figure, Çokkardeş’ poems have been featured in many Turkish literary magazines, including Varlık, Sonsuzluk ve Bir Gün, Akatalpa, Dize, Aykırı Sanat and Mavi.

Nesrin Eruysal is a literary scholar and translator, and editor of Söyleşi Üç Aylık Şiir Dergisi (part of The Conversation International Poetry Project).

Ken Fifer is a Professor of English at Penn State Berks. His fifth collection of poetry, Architectural Conditions: A Collaboration (Interarts Press, 2012), with the architect Larry Mitnick, has just been published.

The Sermon on the Moon

by Bahri Çokkardeş

September went by slowly
Water lengthened, rains fell
The night wind warded off its dark spots

Midmorning
Having woken from its shadow
Set an ambush for the sun
That groundless melancholy loner

I carry on in this island whipped by typhoons
Chained to the sea as the waves
Crash against the dam, and I proclaim you.
I scream, until hoarse, your beloved name.

—José Manuel Cardona

These are poems of solid classical diction, keenly aware of the rich traditions that precede it, where mythology, travel and personal memory represent starting points for erotic and metaphysical reflection. —Andrés Neuman, from the Preface

José Manuel Cardona’s Birnam Wood is a superb account of his travels around the world in the service of poetry. —Christopher Merrill

Hélène Cardona’s translations are revelations of language and image, a voice dipped in clear water and wrung through her careful hands. —Dorianne Laux

In years, I have not read a poetry more expansive, gripping, and beautiful for the true music of language. I have been enthusiastically revitalized by the recent encounter with the poetry of José Manual Cardona, masterfully translated by his daughter, poet Hélène Cardona. In her hands, Birnam Wood sings to us in a rendering that is lush and passionate. —Rustin Larson, The Iowa Source

When you take down a book by a master poet like José Cardona you are, while reading his work, reliving, at least for a short spell, the magic of the great moderns and ancients. Hélène Cardona’s translation of her father’s work must be the crowning achievement so far in her own poetic career. For he reads in English as poetry, not as mere translation. I can’t offer better praise then this. —Peter O’Neill, Levure Littéraire.

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Ed Higgins’ poems and short fiction have appeared in various print and online journals including recently: Ekphrastic Review, CarpeArte Journal, Under the Basho, Wales Haiku Journal, and Sum Journal, among ...

Amirah Al Wassif is a freelance writer. She has written articles, novels, short stories poems and songs. Five of her books were written in Arabic and many of her English ...

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Ray Greenblatt has lived in New England, the West Indies, and along the Eastern Shore. He has written short stories, essays, and poetry which have been published across the U.S. ...

Michael H. Brownstein’s work has appeared in American Letters and Commentary, Skidrow Penthouse, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Pacific Review, After Hours, poetrysuperhighway.com and others. He has nine poetry ...

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